I take a sketchbook with me everywhere I go, even if I'm just heading
to the gas station to refill the tank. I had lovely thoughts to share
about keeping a sketchbook and how pivotal this is for anyone with
artistic ambitions or creative hobbies.

But then, my husband went outside to change the brakes on our car,
leaving me to write out my lovely thoughts in the midst of a storm of
children, which storm has blown my concentration right out the door. The
teenager is writing a physics paper and packing for an overnight field
trip tomorrow. The middle child is sick and needs medicine and love. The
baby has torn his diaper off so many times, that I am now letting him
sit naked on my lap and watch Jay Jay the Jet Plane while I type.

I may not retrieve those lovely sketchbook thoughts till
another day. Just know that the thoughts are there. I am passionate about
sketchbooks. You must, must, must have a sketchbook—so I went and got one for you, along
with a big pack of pretty, colored pencils.

It doesn't matter if you can draw. You need a place to capture your
creative brainstorms. Write it down, draw it out, or risk losing it. I
also picked up a colored pencil blender pen for you, a solvent-based marker meant for blending wax-based
colored pencil pigments. This is something I have never tried before, so
I got one for me too. We'll find out together.

If
I'm preaching to the choir, and you're already amply equipped with
sketchbooks and colored pencils of your own, take a shot at this
giveaway anyhow. If you win, then you can gift the prize to a creative friend who
needs to hear the gospel truth about sketchbooks.

As you know, I have some big introductions to make this week. I
tidied up my sewing area this morning to make way for a full weekend of
projects—assuming the baby keeps his diaper on and no unexpected
strike-offs arrive at the door.

Just going with the flow. I'm grateful to have that flexibility.
Speaking of flow... I better go put a diaper on this kid. I'm testing my
luck at this point.

I'm am all about art supplies. I love nothing more than to sit at my
drafting table with a fiesta of colorful paints, markers and tools
within reach. It's also handy to have a few supplies that are easy to
pack up and take with me for long family functions, for travel, or even
for a trip to the park with the kids.

One of my all-time-favorite, easy-to-pack art supplies is my compact set of Winsor Newton watercolor
half-pans (the official name for these little dried cubes of paint). I
love to work with pan paints on the go. And each half-pan can be replaced
as it is used—without having to get a whole new set of colors. In fact,
you can swap the colors around, add new ones, remove a few, and make
your own custom palette to paint with.

The teensy-tiny box opens up to reveal plenty of palette surface for mixing colors. There is even a little water tray for plein-air
painting. (I don't use the water tray myself. I'm happy to bring a
larger cup along.) Also included is a small, round paintbrush which is
stored inside the compact.

These pan paints don't offer the same pigment depth as top-of-the-line
tube paint, but they are a good quality for a traveling set. And this
little box of watercolors has remained one of my favorite art supplies
over many years. You might recall my March of the Tools post on these from a few years back.

Today's lucky winner will receive a new Winsor Newton compact watercolor set to call her own, the same traveling kit that I use. A $38 value.

Comment to enter today's giveaway. One entry per household. Be sure to include your email
address
so we can contact you if you win. You don't have to type your email
address into the body of the comment if you entered it in the email-address
field on the comment form.

Today's giveaway will close at 11:59pm PST on Tuesday 8/27/13—which means it will overlap with Day 25's giveaway and Day 27th's giveaway, so don't miss those. Watch for the winner to
be announced within the week at the bottom
of the post. For more info on my August giveaway party, click here. Please
share the word. Check back every day.

At Quilt Market last May, I met Nathan and Stacy Wiedenmann who were
there introducing a new product to the world. And it was no elementary,
homespun product either, but a multi-function task light of all things.
Now how do you get that made?

The inventor in me can't resist new gadgets. The business owner in me
thrills to see someone tackle manufacturing with success. Isaac has two
pet lighting inventions he wants to patent and market one day, so
meeting small business owners in the lighting trade is extra fun.

Now, I'm going to butcher the Stella Lighting
story, but as I understand it, Nathan was at a meeting at Starbucks
where he and an associate were discussing a prototype of this lamp when a
quilter approached them to find out more about it. After a
demonstration, she insisted that she needed the lamp and she needed it
now. And that other quilters and crafters needed it too. The punchline
is: this godsend matchmaker hooked up a great little lamp with an eager
audience and it was true love.

So
what makes this light different? The Stella task lamp is stocked with
21 little LED light bulbs, all rated to last for 50,000+ hours—we'll
call that a lifetime of use. You never have to change the bulbs. With
efficient LED technology, the lamp uses 10% of the electricity of a
comparably bright incandescent light. And the light stays cool, so you
can work right under it very comfortably. It is available as a desk lamp or floor lamp.

It also has five brightness levels, so it can be adjusted to the task at hand. You can choose from three different light temperatures, including a warm light (very similar to incandescent light), a very cool light, and a bright, daylight-balanced light.

For me and my purposes, the
daylight-balanced setting is where it's at. Much of my work involves
reviewing colors for accuracy. And having a Stella on hand allows me to
work later into the day, after the sun has set—perfect for evaluating
fabric strike-offs, painting new artwork, or choosing thread colors.

The light is even and bright and the neck of the lamp can be bent in almost any direction. It's streamline shape allows it to peek in quietly over your work or move aside as needed.

Check in with Stella on Twitter and Instagram. Visit StellaLighting.com
for a video introduction and more information about the product and the
company. Art stores, quilt stores, needlework stores and more are all
starting to carry this new light, so watch for the Stella at your local
shop.

Comment to enter. One entry per household. U.S. shipping only on this one. Be sure to include your email
address
so we can contact you if you win. You don't have to type your email
address into the body of the comment if you entered it in the email-address
field on the comment form. Today's giveaway will close at noon PST on Tuesday 8/20/13. Watch for the winner to
be announced within a few days at the bottom
of the post.

For the backstory on my August HELLO Giveaway project, click here. Please
share the word.And check back every day.

When I say that I'm friends with some cool people at some cool
companies. I mean, wow. I put out some calls, told everyone I wanted to
have a big Thank You Party for my readers, and look what's coming in.
Today's giveaway prize is another big one.

This incredible machine here is called the Cricut Expressions 2.
It is an electronic cutting machine. Digital designs are plugged into
the system on cartridges and out come perfectly-cut pieces. Pieces of
what, you say? Pieces of cardstock, chipboard, sheet magnet, foam, felt,
balsa wood, vellum, cling vinyl, fabric and more. That's a lot of
creative possibilities.

This
Cricut is a free-standing machine that is easily operated using
touch-screen technology. You don't have to have a computer. From what I
read, this is one of the easiest cutting machines to operate and there
are a number of video tutorials and reviews posted online if you're a
visual learner.

Included with the Expressions 2 machine is their Cricut Essentials
cartridge which includes hundreds of designs and a Cricut Alphabet
cartridge. Beyond that, Cartridges galore
are available separately from a variety of designers. The machine
features a cutting area as large as 12" x 24" and it will arrange
multiple items for you in order to prevent waste.

Great for crafts, party decorations, card-making, scrapbooking, fabric
applique, product packaging, valentines. I can think of so many fun
things to do with a cutting machine. What incredible technology to have
on hand.

Oh! And Cricut is also including a bundle of iron-on vinyl in three colors—winner chooses the colors.
Wait till you see what you can do with this iron-on vinyl. Holy cow.
You can customize tee-shirts, pillows, shoes, sports jerseys, hats,
handbags, Christmas stockings—anything. To see images of this
heat-transfer film in use, visit Cricut's iron-on vinyl product page, then click on each color of vinyl to pull up project ideas.

With so many functions and uses, it's quite impossible for me to cover it all in this one post. I recommend you visit their "New to Cricut?" page, the Cricut Blog, and the Cricut Forum if you want to delve in to the details and see all that the Cricut Expressions 2 can do. Cricut is also on Facebook (a great resource), Instagram and Twitter, so go say hello.

All in all, today's generous prize is a $345 value. Thank you, Cricut! To enter for today's
giveaway, leave a comment here on this post. One entry per person.

Be sure to include your email
address
so we can contact you if you win. You don't have to type your email
address into the body of the comment if you entered it in the email-address
field on the comment form; I can access that info from behind the scenes. Today's giveaway will close at 11:59pm PST on Sunday 8/18/13. (This is a big one and it's Friday—so I'm giving you all weekend to
enter. This means it will overlap with Saturday's and Sunday's
giveaways.) Watch for the winner to
be announced early next week at the bottom
of the post.

For more info on these August HELLO Giveaways, click here. Please
share the word. We have lots more in store for you this month.

I'm incredibly excited to share today's prize with you. Copic has generously contributed a set of their Ciao Too
artist-quality markers. I've been researching markers heavily all year
and Copic stands tall at the top of the list. Not only does Copic offer
their markers in scores of colors, with a variety of nibs to choose from, but Copic markers are also refillable and blendable. That's right—blendable. The ink flows smoothly and colors can be blended together without glaring streaks or stripes.

They make several styles of markers which hold differing amounts of
ink, but follow the same color system. The Ciao markers
here come with a brush tip on one end and a chisel tip on the other.
With some product lines, you can choose which nibs you like best and
swap them out as you see fit. Most of their markers are
double-ended—except for the super-duper wide ones.

One popular style, the Copic Sketch marker, can be attached to their proprietary air-brush system where
colors swap out easily and there's no fussy clean-up.

I'm just mesmerized by these. Like every product I'm including in the
giveaways this month, I contacted the company because I genuinely love
what they do. I have been fawning over this prize ever since it arrived
at the studio on Monday. Someone is going to be one lucky duck.

Copic
markers are top-of-the-line. They don't come cheaply, but they do their
job fantastically and they maintain their value quite well. With refillable alcohol-inks and replaceable nibs, these valuable tools can be used in perpetuity.

They work great for fabric studies and that works for me. I love them.

Comment to enter today's contest. Be sure to include your email
address
so we can contact you if you win. You don't have to type your email
address into the body of the comment if you entered it in the email-address
field on the comment form; I can access that info from behind the scenes. Today's giveaway will close at 11:59pm PST on Wednesday 8/14/13. One entry per person. Winner chosen at random using the random number generator at Random.org. Watch for the winner to
be announced within a day or
two at the bottom
of the post.

For more info on my August HELLO Giveaways, click here. Please
share the word. Check back every day.

Today's giveaway is from my friend, Katie Richardson, who invented this crazy-cool folding baby tub and quickly expanded her business, Puj Baby, to include several other hip and helpful products for families.

Katie
is good friends with Isaac's sister, Maureen. She and I have met up a
couple of times and every time I see Katie she's reached new heights in
design. I'm incredibly impressed with her and her success.

I discoverd the Industrial Design program at my university when I was
just about to graduate in Apparel Design. I have kicked myself ever
since for not learning about it sooner. At one point, after I had
abandoned my plan to pursue Medicine, I had hunted for a degree that
would lend itself to animatronics (mechanical puppets and special
effects for the movies, that kind of thing). I wanted to know how to
make anything and everything, sewn items on through to electronics.

I am still mad that the Industrial Design program never came up on that hunt. I
had grouped it in with Civil Engineering and passed it right by. If I
could do college again, I would major in Industrial Design and minor in
Apparel Design. The inventor in me still craves that education on
materials and processes. Perhaps I can find a program somewhere yet and
scratch that itchy itch.

My point is that Katie here majored in Industrial Design. As did her
husband, Ben. And look what they have created! Isn't this impressive?
Together they are a design power house. And I can't wait to see what
they do next. You can too. Follow Katie and Ben's journey on their company blog and on Katie's "Secret Blog"—I sure hope it's not a true secret—Katie? Puj Baby can also be found on Instagram and Twitter at @PujBaby and on Facebook as well. Check them out.

Without further ado, today's giveaway prize is a generous bundle of amazing inventions from Katie and her company, Puj. Winner will receive one Puj Tub, one Puj Hug baby towel and Puj Nubs, knobs to hang your Puj products on. A $90 value.

By the way, the Puj Hug towel
fastens gently around mom's neck so she can get baby from the tub more
safely—without fuss. Or dad's neck. See how this works at Puj.com. I love inventions!

I know some rad people.

Comment to enter today's contest. Be sure to include your email
address
so we can contact you if you win. You don't have to type your email
address into the body of the comment if you entered it in the email-address
field on the comment form; I can access that info from behind the scenes. Today's giveaway will close at 11:59pm PST on Tuesday 8/13/13.This one requires a U.S. address. And they can't ship to a P.O. box. Watch for the winner to
be announced within a day or
two at the bottom
of the post.

For more info on my August HELLO Giveaways, click here. Please
share the word. Check back every day.

The building that last week's Revive conference was held at is so cool. It
is a gutted old relic from the early 1900s, a place where they used to
manufacture 300 lb. ice blocks for refrigerating food in railcars
heading east.

The owner of The Icehouse, as it's called now, is dedicated to the arts and offers the space
for exhibitions and creative events. One upcoming sculpture show is all about different artistic takes on manhole covers of all things. Seriously.

Don't you just love when you're working along, having an
normal-sort-of-day, and the postman shows up with a box of sunshine.
Today I'm restocking my gouache supply. Not with onesie-twosie-tubes,
here and there, but with all 84 colors in this particular range.

I'm amping up for major output this year.

In my years of ordering art supplies online from all over, I don't
think I've yet seen such meticulous packaging. I tore into the bundles
like it was Christmas. It took me a good 20 minutes to free the tubes.

Yum,
yum. Now where to keep them? I have a little baby here who would just
love to sink his teeth into each one of these tubes, take the lids off,
bust open the tails and squirt color everywhere.

This handy tool is called a drafting lead holder or clutch pencil. It contains a thicker core of lead (2mm) than a mechanical pencil (0.05mm to 0.09mm) and must be sharpened with a specialized device called a lead pointer.

Pencil lead is manufactured in a range from soft to hard, with "B" representing a soft lead and "H" representing a hard lead. B stands for "Black" and H stands for "Hardness." As such, a soft lead produces a darker, thicker line and a hard lead produces a lighter, thinner line. The full spectrum is represented below in an image from Dave's Mechanical Pencils. The more B's a lead has, the softer it is, the more H's it has, the harder it is.

Your typical school pencil or mechanical pencil uses an HB lead, which is dead in the middle between soft and hard. (A "#2 pencil" is the same as an HB pencil.) However, for my artwork, I prefer a harder lead which is less dusty and won't smear as readily. A harder lead keeps its point longer as well. However, with a hard lead, artwork isn't as black on the page as with a softer lead. For me, this is an easy trade-off. I use a softer-leaded pencil to lead up the back side of tracing paper in prep for transferring a design, but for all other pencilly purposes, I prefer a hard lead.

I'm a huge fan of mechanical pencils as well and I use them plenty, especially when I'm on the go. Most stores carry the standard HB leads for mechanical pencils. However, it takes some planning to procure those ultra-thin leads in a harder variety. You can find them online or at nicer art supply stores. When I'm at the studio or at home, however, I tend to use a lead holder. It's not great for travel because the lead pointer gets filled with graphite dust and can make a real mess if you tip it over. You can track down a lead holder online or at your local art supply store. My nearby Michael's carries a Staedtler brand lead holder, as well as HB lead cores. Hobby Lobby, however, has a variety of lead cores.

Perhaps this helps some of you out? I thought lead ratings were relatively common knowledge till I saw the light bulb go off behind Isaac's eyes when I explained these terms to him a couple of weeks back. I guess I'm in my own little world. Me and my pencils.

For $1.00, make a child's day with a box of colorful chalk. Leave the box on her bed with a love note. And that child's charming artwork will bring you far more than $1.00 of happiness. Take photos and your returns will double in the years to come when you both reflect on those sunny days of childhood.

We haven't been able to fit in a family portait in years. At this point, I'm counting on Charlotte's artwork to catalog our family make-up. In fact, I dream of assembling a coffee table book of her artwork to help me endure an empty nest. I thought of naming the book 'I Love You, Mama' as this is the tag line on most of her drawings. My latest thought, however, is to name the book 'A Spoonful of Charlotte' as this mighty book is bound to help the medicine go down—the fleeting of time, a deterioration in health, vision issues—whatever is in store for me should I be fortunate enough to make it to a beautiful old age.

I'm planning out my happiness.

In fact, I've been giving a lot of thought to mindful happiness the last few years. I've been assembling my children's traditional keepsakes (artwork, report cards, photos, etc.) into files for their easy retrieval as adults. When I started, it struck me to include more meaningful things as well—bits of wisdom when they come to me, a love note for my far-off descendants—and my take on happiness and how to foster it. The more I move on it, the more convinced I am that everyone should leave such a guidebook for their kiddos. What to do, what NOT to do. I mean, isn't happiness the thing?

So far, I have a handful of essays. Gosh, 'essays' sounds so—so what? Collegy? So far, I have a handful of studies. What's the word here? Though some stories are typed up, not everything is written out yet. I scribble down notes and test out my theories regularly. Some experiments are spiritual, some are physical, some are silly. Really, these are all excuses to be mindful about happiness because I believe mindfulness can make for powerful results.

Code name: Hello Happiness.

I made a list the other night of some of my sillier experiments with happiness and I realized that I should be including you guys in this. For instance, why have I not posted about my Cleaning Crown? Or video-taped a Family Dance-Break for you to laugh at? Though I did post about taking a Clogging Class with my friend, Sarah, and learning to Make Yogurt, I did not revealed my intent nor my impressions.

The colored chalk was a simple plan to make the lessons I teach at my church a smidgeon more fun for the ladies. I wish I had thought to get an extra $1.00 box for Charlotte and leave it on her bed with a love note. That idea didn't crystallize till after we divied up my teaching supply and enjoyed a few minutes of scribbling on the driveway together.

I'll have to surprise Charlotte with a new box of chalk in a couple of weeks when these others are worn to nubs.

One tool we've learned we can't live without is an air-powered paint sprayer. This month alone we have painted up two huge work tables, a large dining table, two small tables, a chair, a chest of drawers and several frames. I should say, Isaac has painted up all of these things. I just ran the kids around and made all of the dinners so he could keep at it. For three weeks, our front driveway housed what looked like a terrorist interrogation tent, dusty tarps flapping in the wind. Isaac called it his "hobo shanty town." Painting this many pieces would have been misery with a paint brush and the finishes wouldn't have been so smooth and professional.

Of course, it would have taken far less time if we weren't experimenting with some bullet-proof, professional paint Isaac tracked down. This stuff was rough to use, but the finished work tables are hard as glass. We used regular paint from the hardware store for all of the other projects and they were far easier to complete.

We have refinished a ton of furniture over the last 15 years. I regret not getting an air compressor and a paint sprayer sooner.

AIR COMPRESSORAs far as air compressors go, for spraying paint, it's important to get a compressor that is large enough and powerful enough to keep up with you. Usually you would need, at minimum, a 20- to 30-gallon compressor for powering a paint sprayer because you are using the compressed air in a steady stream instead of in short bursts (as for a nail gun or staple gun). However, we have found that the 15-gallon DeWalt D55168 is up to the task. It has an extra-powerful motor and is capable of being filled to a very high pressure -- many 30-gallon compressors will only go up to 140 PSI (pounds per square inch), while this guy will go up to 200 PSI so it releases a longer flow of air than you would normally expect from a smaller tank. And it takes up less room. Furthermore, when we turned this machine on at the store, we found that it was also considerably more quiet than other models. Sold!

Make sure to compare the SCFM ratings (Standard Cubic Feet per Minute) of the compressors you are considering, which measures air flow (into the tank, I think). For spraying paint, you will want a machine with an SCFM of 5 or more. Most air compressor tools will list what SCFM is needed to operate them, so look at the different tools you will want to use before choosing which model of air compressor to purchase. If you plan to use an air compressor for tasks that only require small bursts of air, like for a nail gun or a staple gun, then you might be able to get away with a smaller compressor. Read more about how to choose an air compressor here.

PAINT SPRAYER In my opinion, the gravity-fed pneumatic paint sprayers (with the paint tank on top) work a little better than the siphon-fed ones. I haven't used enough different models to say which brand/model is best. Ours is a Husky Pro HVLP and we have been plenty happy with it thus far. Make sure to get a professional-quality respirator to wear while you're working.

Woodworking projects sometimes call for a dowel or rod to be cut off at surface level. Power saws aren't usually up to the task and most hand saws, on top of too inflexible to stay flush with the surface, would damage the surface with their offset teeth.

Enter the Japanese Flush-Cut Saw. This handy saw is not only rigid enough to make fine cuts in thin material, but also flexible enough to press tightly against the surface of your project -- imagine a long, metal spatula with sharp, toothy edges. The teeth curl back toward the handle and do not offset each other which means two things: one, the bottom of the saw is smooth and will not marr up your project; and two, it only cuts on the pull stroke.

There really is no other saw that can do this job. Sure, perhaps only a handful of you will find need for such a device in the near future, but I love this thing, so there you are. And if you are in a family full of men, you now have a new topic to bring up at dinner. And there are birthdays and Father's Day to consider. Isaac calls this simple tool a "revelation."

Funny -- I just noticed this -- ours has a stamp on the blade that reads, "For your pleasant life." How about that!?

Chocolate is perhaps the best tool of all. Of course, if I was stuck on the prairie with bodies to clothe, food to procure, and a shelter to build, I may not think so. Then again, maybe I would.

I've come to the conclusion that if I'm going to splurge, then I'm going to splurge. When I want chocolate, I want the good kind, not some cheap, grainy, make-your-mouth-sore chocolate wanna-be. Good chocolate, or no chocolate at all. Same goes for ice cream, cake, butter, mayonaise, and so forth. Why bother if it isn't any good? In the end, what real pain is there in spending $2 on chocolate satisfaction over $0.50 on chocolate disappointment? This is my thinking.

My favorite, easy-grab indulgence is the Ritter Sport Butter Biscuit bar from Germany. It's creamy and dreamy. I'm sure there are plenty of other varieties that are just as delicious, but this is one of my all-time favorites AND the Target nearby has them displayed at their checkout stands -- which adds an undeniable convenience factor to the equation.

When I'm feeling extra snazzy, I may even venture to the other side of the store to grab one of Ritter Sport's other varieties. They make a surprisingly fantastic Cornflakes bar and I'm ga-ga for their Marzipan bar as well.

Good chocolate. Chocolate, good.

How about you? Who makes your favorite chocolate bar? Or, if you're not into chocolate, then how in the world do you get by? Do tell.

A few years back I picked up an oddly-shaped silicone spatula on sale at a fancy, local grocery store. I was intrigued by it's double-ended design and the claim it was heat-resistant to 650º F (340º C). It worked so well as a spatula for baking and also as a stirring tool for cooking that I hustled back to that store and purchased the only other one left. These are now among my favorite, everyday kitchen tools.

The spatula is reinforced down the center with a super-strong, super-stiff metal bar. The silicone at either end is flexible, but not too flexible. It scrapes up brownie batter like nothing else.

I am glad to have tracked down the company's website so easily. It turns out they have a ton of nifty tools based on the same concept. Look at all of these options and colors! My exact spatula is no longer in the collection, but it is most similar to the clear design below.

Who knows, it may no longer be my favorite once I have my hands on that violet one above, or perhaps the red one. It looks like they are available on Amazon for $10 to $13 each or so.

It's Saturday! And I'm determined to spend a good part of my day outside. I'm either going to prune the rose bushes or clear out the garden to prep it for planting. It's stormy outside, so we'll see how it goes.

Isaac is finishing up two big tables for the studio. (The same ones I mentioned last year. You know how that goes. They are looking awesome though!) After having at these reclaimed table legs with a palm sander for a while this morning (above), he gave up and purchased an orbital sander. This has made a huge difference, especially with the deep, turned contours at the top and bottom of each leg. The palm sander wasn't working too well on the rounded surfaces.

The rest of the table parts he has built from scratch and everything is ready for assembly. These tables are HUGE and I can't wait to spread projects out all over them. I might have to try them out for napping as well. They are that big.

What are you up to today? With the way the wind is blowing outside, I might be baking cookies and crocheting granny squares by nightfall. Cold-weather activities sound equally appealing.

I'm
in the home-stretch of a many-months' design project. With a name
chosen, a logo and some final print-outs, my next fabric collection
will head off to the mill and my brain will be my own again. I've been
twittering as a welcome distraction. Next I'll need a new phone plan
so I can twitter from anywhere. Then I can get input on whether to buy
the yellow shirt or the blue one, have help choosing a dessert at the
grocery store, or discuss any number of random ponderings while on the
go.

For instance, I've been thinking about Magic Shell
a lot lately -- well, more than usual, which is never -- probably
because ice cream consumption increases in direct proportion to an
increase in workload. Magic Shell can't be natural. But, it sure
tastes like chocolate and not as much like plastic as I'd expect. I
twitter-tweeted my love of Magic Shell and WhipUp twittered me right back a link to a make-your-own-Magic-Shell recipe here.

This
simple tool is awesome. You can use it to push stuffing into just the
right spot. And for teensy stuffed things, like doll fingers and
noses, the small Stuffing Fork
is great. If you poke the fork into a small tuft of stuffing and give
it a twist, you can maneuver your stuffing bit in place. They really
are great.

We just stocked a handful of each size, large and small, in our store (10% discount here
till April 5th). I have an old-school, wooden-handled Stuffing Fork
that's been well-used and well-loved for the last decade or more. Now
I've upgraded to these new ones which have a molded plastic handle and
are even better -- a necessary tool for your sewing arsenal.

And
because April is upon us, I'm going to bullet-list out a few more tools
I love, then call it done for the year. Totally random though. No
rules.

Color Munki. New tool for us. But you should hear Isaac's shouts of
'whoa!' from the other room. When you're in the design business, color
calibration is big.

Beeswax for thread.
For quilting or applique, if you run your thread through beeswax &
press it before sewing, your thread will be stronger and will suffer
less wear when pulled through the fabric stitch after stitch. I'll
blog about this one in more detail sometime.

Water-soluble markers.
For marking match points or drawing tailoring adjustments in sewing.
Or for drawing out an embroidery design onto fabric. Where were these
when I learned to sew with chalky, messy, white tailoring pencils?

Art Gum erasers.
I have these erasers all over my studio. When I only had one or two,
I'd lose them, or the dogs would chew them up. Isaac bought me 10 at
once and now I'm all set. Having an abundance of good erasers is a
luxury anyone can attain.

Pentel Twist-Erase mechanical pencils.
My new favorite pencil, because the eraser actually lasts for a while
and can be re-filled. Of course, as a result, my art gum eraser
collection hasn't been as important lately. Dave says this pencil has it's own following.

Typepad. I've used Typepad from the beginning and have always
been impressed with their interface, customer service, customizability,
upgrades, etc. And I've never had a post go missing. This is the second or third time they've featured my blog on their sign-in page and I'm completely honored.

Twitter. I've always described blogging as a form of conversation, and micro-blogging is even more conversational (see tweets in my sidebar). It's been less than a week since I started twitter-chatting, but what fun.

Okay, so I'm off to polish up a logo for the fabric collection, then
it's back to a more normal pace -- and a movie & a milkshake. Any
movie recommendations?

Okay, so Google Reader is the CLEAR winner. I checked it out and you can easily export the feeds
you're following in another aggregator and then upload them to Google
Reader. You can be all set-up and transitioned-over in less than 5
minutes. Dead serious. Then, if you install a Google Reader 'Next' button
in your browser's bookmark bar, you can click from one new post to
another and read each post in its original blog setting where it belongs. All great tips from you guys -- thanks for chiming in!

Now I'm exploring Twitter.
Ya, I took my time getting around to it. I think they invited me to the beta of Twitter
three years ago or so. I'm getting serious deja vu on their site.
Let me say, I love the simplicity of their concept. 'You know, for
blogging.' Have you seen The Hudsucker Proxy (one of my all-time favorite movies!)? If not, then that's what you should do for fun this weekend.

Years ago, when I posted a tutorial for My Favorite Knot,
I thought it was a comically common thing to tutorialize. But, as that
knot has made my sewing much more pleasant, I figured, "Why not. It's
bound to help someone." To my surprise, that knot tutorial has sparked
the most passionate feedback. Most of you probably already knew how to
tie a tidy knot, but for those who didn't - ah, what a lifesaver!

Today, my March of the Tools tool is similarly basic. And though quite well-known amongst bloggers, it shouldn't go without lauding: Aggregators. There are bound to be a few dozen of you who don't know what you're missing out on. This post is for you.

If
you find yourself tediously entering and re-entering the URLs of your
favorite blogs throughout the day, just hoping that someone has posted
a new entry, read on. You need an aggregator. I currently use Bloglines.

Bloglines
is a free, online service that allows you to organize and monitor your
favorite blogs. When you are logged into your account, you
are able to see when new entries have been posted on each of the blogs
you 'subscribe' to. Subscribing to blogs is free and many blogs have a
"Subscribe in Bloglines" or "Subscribe to this Feed" button in their
sidebar to make the process even easier. (I
just fixed my Bloglines button - it wasn't working right for months --
yikes.) Otherwise, you can click on a blog's RSS feed icon in your
browser's address bar (usually looks like a little square with three
curved 'sound' bars radiating outward - example to the right). The RSS
icon will take you to the blog's RSS feed, where there are usually some
subscription options, including Bloglines. Here is what my RSS feed page looks like.

There are many similar services to Bloglines, such as Google Reader, My Yahoo, NewsFire, and many others. I've only ever used Bloglines, so I'm not too familiar with the alternatives. All such blog-subscribing services are called aggregators
(or feed-readers, rss readers, news readers, etc.). Using an
aggregator is an absolute life-saver if you're following a long list of
blogs on a regular basis. An aggregator enables you to compose a
virtual daily 'personal newspaper' of all of your favorite blog
'articles' (aka rss feeds or posts) which you can read one after the
other right there under your account -- or you can click on a link to
each post if you prefer to read new posts in their original setting
within a blog (my preference).

A lot of info? Let me just say it
is totally worth looking into. The time you spend learning your way
around Bloglines or another aggregator will easily pay off in spades.
One hour learning how to use an aggregator could easily gain you three
hours more free time in the next week or two alone.

I knew about Bloglines long before I set up my own account. The day I finally did I was completely kicking myself for not doing it sooner. A seriously good tool.

(I'm
sure I'm preaching to the choir here. If you already use an
aggregator, help me convince everyone else how great they are! If you
recommend a different aggregator than Bloglines, tell us about it.)

Isaac loves to cook. His sister, Evie, gave him a subscription to Cooks Illustrated magazine
for Christmas one year and now we're hooked. I'm pretty sure I would
never have picked up this magazine from the shelf of a bookstore. But
it's great!

Cooks Illustrated covers the science of
cooking in a fun, easy-to-follow format. In any given issue, you might
learn how to best hard-boil an egg so the yolk stays centered (helpful
for deviled eggs), or which brand of stone-ground mustard is the most
flavorful, or the science behind aged cheese. Who knows -- all kinds
of interesting things. Their test-kitchen cooks tirelessly compare
techniques and recipes to arrive at the best methods and flavors. Then
they quickly outline their test results and make suggestions in the
magazine. Even better, their research and info is completely unbiased
- like Consumer Reports
for cooking techniques, food, & recipes. The magazine doesn't have
any ads and is illustrated in old-fashioned pen-and-ink-drawings, which
I love.

Anyhow. Yes, I'm recommending a cooking magazine as a favorite tool for March of the Tools. Next time you're out shopping, stop by the magazine row and take a peek through Cooks Illustrated. I love knowing the 'why' behind a good recommendation. And Cooks Illustrated is full of 'whys' -- and good recommendations.

This
gadget is awesome. It's a Belkin TuneTalk™ Stereo voice recorder for iPods. When you plug it
into the bottom of your iPod, you can record voice memos in a snap.
And there's no set-up or anything. When the voice recorder is plugged
in, a new category called "Voice Memos" shows up right on the main
menu. To run the recorder, you simply use the iPod's scroll-wheel and
select button to follow the prompts on the
iPod's main screen.

I
picked this device up at the Apple Store for a business need. It wasn't cheap
- maybe $60 or $70? But, once we heard the recording quality (which is surprisingly fantastic), Isaac & I have since used it for video voice-overs and for recording our
children's sweet little voices - while they're still sweet & little. The voice files created are easy to move into the computer for storage as well -- they import right into your iTunes library.

I highly recommend it. See your local Apple Store for more info. And, here's a current list of iPod models this recorder should work with.

I have been so sick this week. I keep thinking I'll kick it and be
back in action, but it's still dragging on. After a good night's sleep
tonight, I'm hoping to have my writing mojo back and start into a
condensed March of the Tools. Till then, make sure to visit the March of the Tools page where you can see who all is participating. A lot of excitement for tools!

Found
my card reader. And I'm doing what I can to hop back on the tool train
too. I receive regular requests for sewing machine recommendations,
but am a little shy about recommending a starter sewing machine as I've
been entirely spoiled on the sewing machine front and haven't had to
shop for a starter sewing machine for, well two decades almost & I'm not that old!

I have three sewing machines and two sergers. My newest machine is
a Bernina Artista 640. The coolest thing about this one is that I can
design embroideries on my computer & then stitch them out at will.
Of course, I confess, I've only done this once so far. But that's
because I've been designing more than sewing in recent months. (Isaac
wrote an article for Sew News about how to interface with these
machines if you're a Mac user & not on PCs. The embroidery I
designed for that article is available as a free download in my sidebar
under "Free Embroidery File.") Anyhow, I'm not up to a comprehensive,
statistical review, but I can say that Berninas are a very pleasant
machine to sew on.

Speaking of Berninas -- Quick story -- Partway through my
Apparel Design degree our workshop space was re-outfitted with an army
of new Bernina 1620s. Reading through the manual late one night (many
all-nighters were pulled at school - Project Runway pretty much wraps
up the experience), there was a mention of 'memorized buttonholes,' but
the instructions weren't clear what exactly those were or how to set
the machine to do it. Oh, but the idea of 'memorized buttonholes!' I
proceeded to poke & prod & tap out all manner of button
sequences before I was successful. I think it took me an hour or so to
break the code. Completely worth it! And, of course, I got to be
Santa Claus the next day showing my friends that new technology. We
all took a renewed interest in buttons that season.

Anyhow... sewing with a quality machine is really important,
especially if you're new to sewing. I've taught many people to sew who
were originally convinced they were stinky sewers. In every case I
recall, it was their cheapy cheap sewing machines taunting them. The
machines would lock up & the threads would get all tangled. Hands
in the air, "I stink!" I'd re-thread the machine & get them going
again, only for the machine to grunt & groan once more. "My
friend, it's your machine that stinks! Here, try mine." "Oh, hmmm,
maybe I can sew." Yes, I've witnessed this many times.

Of course, you don't need that Cadillac up there in order to be
successful either. Most new sewers should look for a machine with a
straight stitch, a zig-zag stitch, buttonhole capability, back-stitch
button, ability to change needle position, interchangeable feet, etc.
But go with one of the better brands. (Can't say just which models
though as I haven't researched any of this lately.) Get a good quality
machine so you're more likely to succeed & to like yourself as a
sewer.

Otherwise, just know that if you're learning to sew with a $50
machine from the drugstore that half of your sewing battles are not
your fault. Blame the machine. That works too. And don't give up
sewing!

My other machines...• Viking #1+ Sewing Machine - Not as
new as the Artista 640, so it's not in prime position anymore, but I
still like this machine a lot. This is the machine I take out when a
friend comes over to sew. And I like to do buttonholes on this one too
(out of familiarity, I think).• Bernina 840 Sewing Machine -
Old machine. It was old when I got it too. But it has metal parts!
And everyone I've ever heard discuss this machine has given it the -
same - exact - nickname -, "workhorse," which really weirds me out.
I've lent this machine out to many friends who were learning to sew.
And this is the machine I do all of my upholstery and slip-cover sewing
on. It's not an industrial machine, but it's tough.• Bernina 2500 DCET Serger
- Haven't mastered this one yet, but it does all of those cool hem
stitches for sewing with knits. I like to keep this one set on a cover
stitch and use my other serger for overlock, so I don't have to switch
the threading around too much. See, totally spoiled.• Bernette 234 Serger -
I love this serger. Just a good, straight-forward machine that's easy
to troubleshoot. Perhaps its our history though. Loyalty. I bought
this one used. It was the summer I turned 20. I had already survived
one fashion show in college (huge collection, one-of-a-kind
hand-sweaters too, so tiring!) & I knew I'd be putting together
another collection the following year. This serger was my ticket to
sewing at home & pulling fewer all-nighters at school (yes, those
were crazy-fun, but I was newly-married & trying to be more
sensible). It was $200 or $250 at the time, which was about as much as
we paid in rent, but neither of us flinched. It was a good call.

So, those are my machines, a couple of which came as presents from my
generous MIL who opted to be paid in machines in exchange for design work (machine embroidery, I think) over
the years . She's just about outfitted all of her daughters with
top-of-the-line machines now. Ridiculously fabulous & indulgent
pursuit, don't you think? Yes, there were times when my sewing machine
was worth more than my car. Not the nicest cars back then though.

I'll
take some photos of my other machines & mix them into this post
later this week to break up all this text. I could probably go on, but
I'm actually sewing today & am anxious to get back to it. I'll upload some N.Carolina photos for next time too.

Probably
the most-used, most-carefully-placed tool around here, the sketchbook.
Not to be lost. When one fills up, there are several new ones on hand,
ready to go. Small one for discreet sketching, at meetings or
whatnot. The spine of my latest sketchbook has developed leprosy or
something so I'm giving the spiral-bound a try. If the pages stay in
then I'll convert.

So this is new. I mentioned to Isaac how I needed to do a tool post
about camera lenses at some point this month & look what he put
together & surprised me with... a guest post. Too fun. It's kind
of technical though, so perhaps we'll need to discuss this in the
comments till it all makes sense. I'll make sure Isaac reads the
comments & chimes in if you have any questions about photo
equipment, lenses, etc. Here's Isaac:

"I get a lot of questions about the equipment I use to create the
photos that you see on my website, which is the same equipment used to
create photos for this blog. First of all, let me say that Heather is
quite a good photographer and does 99% of the photography for her blog
herself. That being said, we do share the same equipment and since it
is March of the Tools, I thought I'd chime in and share one of the
tools that makes my style possible. There is no substitute for a good
eye and an active, observant imagination, but certain looks just can't
be achieved without the right tool.

When I want to get the effect in the photo of the lavender flowers,
where the flowers in the foreground are the only thing in focus and the
background seems compressed and close, I use my 70mm to 200mm f2.8
lens. Set at it's longest focal length of 200mm, this lens all but
eliminates depth of field. Depth of field is the distance between the
first object in the foreground that is in focus and the last object in
the background that is in focus. The depth of field is determined by
two properties, the focal length of the lens (longer focal lengths --
telephoto lenses -- have less depth of field built in) and the aperture
of the lens (f-stop) which is the size of the opening that lets the
light into the camera. A very fast lens like this one opens very wide
and hence has very shallow depth of field.

A third factor in the look is the effect of compressing the
foreground and background, which eliminates a lot of extraneous details
from the shot and has the effect of making shots look tightly-cropped
in the camera. This is a result of the length of the lens -- imagine
looking through a long tube where all peripheral vision is eliminated.

The 70-200 mm f2.8 lens is a bit pricey, but for the serious amateur
or pro, it creates a look that can't be replicated by other lenses.
While you will not be able to fully achieve this look with a point-and-shoot, try setting the camera on macro focus (it's usually the little
flower icon), zoom in as far as your optical zoom will allow, then back
in and out until you find the absolute closest place you can focus.

By the way, thank you for all of the compliments on the MEHC
article. That was a very intense and fast paced shoot, but extremely
fun!"

--Isaac

All of this camera talk reminds me that I never showed you the slideshow from Heather Tinsley's wedding (click here). Heather is a blog reader who
flew Isaac out to photograph her wedding last December. Love that! Hi Heather.

It was in D.C., I think, as Isaac went to the Spy Museum the next day. The Spy Museum! Can you believe there's a spy museum? I wonder how much James Bond reflects reality -- or vice versa.

There's certainly nothing discreet about that camera lense up
there. I usually use a smaller 24-70mm f2.8 lens because the other one
makes my arm ache. They both have a similar effect in my opinion.
Similar enough (don't tell Isaac I said so).

This
little box of watercolors is no bigger than 5" x 6" and is extremely
handy if you're a must-make-something-at-all-times kind of person like
I am. (My soda should give you some idea how small it is - I threw
that in there for scale). This tool is easy to grab & ready to go,
whether to Granny's house, on a family vacation, or on a business
trip. And I really enjoy painting from watercolor pans (those
rectangular cubes of color).

Sometimes I just want to get to it & paint, without having to fuss with lids every time I need a new color.

It's
been a while since I've done much with watercolors or shown you any of
my watercolor work, but this is still one of my favorite little things
to have around.

This
tool allows you to forego your computer mouse for a stylus (penlike
tool below). Some artists will use the stylus & pad to draw or
paint images right into the computer and for such an approach the Wacom
is invaluable. I, however, do all of my initial artwork outside of the
computer, so the Wacom's obvious benefit of more authentic art isn't my
main reason for affection here. In fact, it is really my right hand
that's in love with the Wacom. Intense work on the computer with a
mouse can make your hand cramp & throb after endless hours of
clicking & dragging & clicking & dragging. Working with a
stylus is just a lot more comfortable. A lot more!

And there are some pretty cool secondary features too. The graphics
tablet is pressure sensitive. So, if you have an art program that's
compatible with this feature, you'll find that with some paint brush
tools a stylus will create a varied stroke in response to the pressure
you apply. This is the case with Painter, Illustrator, etc. No
settings to change. A normal computer mouse will just produce an even
line.

The buttons in the corners can be programmed to do whatever
functions you regularly use. And the longer rectangle (see top photo)
allows you to zoom or scroll if you stroke your finger across it. I
have my buttons disabled as I'm all about key commands. But I still
think they're cool.

So that's the Wacom. I have one huge tablet, as wide as my
keyboard, and a smaller one to take with my laptop. As I said before,
I couldn't do without it, so I had to have a second one for travel.

I love tools. Tools that make life better, work easier, and fun
funner. I get a lot of questions about which sewing machines I have,
what camera equipment I use, etc. And seeing as I haven't put together
my FAQs page just yet, I thought I'd embark on a new theme for the
month of March... March of the Tools. Work tools, food tools, sewing
tools, whatever tools come to mind, but all tools that I love &
use.

To
kick things off, here's one of my favorite doo-hickies - only the best
cherry pitter ever. My sister picked this up for me at Williams Sonoma
(I think) a number of years ago. No other cherry pitter will do. You
just place a cherry on top of that "O" and squeeze. The pit comes
shooting out the hole. Just make sure you wear an apron and do your
pitting over the sink into a bowl. (Oh look, here's one with a splash guard.) Nothing's more indulgent or
delicious than sitting down to a bowl full of pitted cherries, washed
and ready to eat. I swear, cherries are ambrosia & nectar in one -
food of the gods.

And
with cherry season well behind us, I resorted to the
crocheted-cherry detailing on one of my dolls to set the proper fruity
mood here. Not quite so photogenic as real cherries, but I saved
myself from a serious cherry hunt, so humor me.

The parading tools
will likely include some things silly, some serious and some
expensive. No bragging intended, just some dang good tools you might
want to know about.

Want to join me on this March of the Tools? I'd sure love the company. And
the tool recommendations. If so, here's a badge you can
post in your sidebar. Link back to this post, so your readers will
know what's up. (If there's some trickier/better way to do badges,
certainly let me know.) This one is 150 dpi, or you can use the 250
dpi one here, or snag the clovered-up version from my sidebar. Add your link in the comments below so we all know who's playing
along. Then we can all click over to your blog throughout the month to see what sort of tools we're missing out on. And join the March of the Tools Flickr Group (great resource for next year's Christmas list, I'm thinking).

HELLOmynameisHeather.com

Hi! I'm Heather Bailey, a fabric & lifestyle designer, an inventor, and a mother to three amazing kids. I love to create. Need to create. And I'm spreading the word on how fulfilling and necessary creativity is to the human soul. Love & nurture your family, be true & honest with your friends and make good stuff—three necessary ingredients for a happy & beautiful life.
This, here, is my personal blog.